FORT MONROE, Va. — As people gather on Saturday to commemorate 405 years since the first landing of enslaved Africans at Fort Monroe in Hampton, the event will have special significance this year.
The Fort Monroe Authority, National Park Service, Project 1619, Inc., and theCity of Hampton are hosting the annual African Landing Day Commemoration and Soil Blending Ceremony at Fort Monroe Saturday.
The event begins at 10am at the future side of the African Landing Memorial, a national monument that will honor the lives of the enslaved Africans stolen from the African country of Africa and taken to modern-day Hampton by English enslavers in 1619. The $9 million monument project— a collaboration between the Tucker family, descended from the first Africans who arrived in 1619, the Fort Monroe Authority, and the Fort Monroe National Monument— is slated to be completed in 2026.
Watch: African Landing Memorial at Fort Monroe honors enslaved Africans and descendants
As for Saturday's soil blending ceremony, organizers are asking all attendees to bring a small sample of soil from their home or from a place that is significant to their family to blend with the soil at Fort Monroe and from Angola.
“It’s emotional. It’s powerful. It rises up in me,” Wanda Tucker told News 3 anchor Jessica Larché in June about the future African Landing Memorial. “Knowing where I’ve come from is a gift, because so many African Americans cannot connect their lineage.”
During a conversation at Fort Monroe ahead of Juneteenth, Tucker said the oral history in her family passed down for over 400 years reveals they are descendants of Antony and Isabella, two of the nearly 20 enslaved Africans who arrived on the White Lion privateer ship at Point Comfort in 1619.
The Africans were kidnapped from their homeland in the African country in Angola by European slave traders. When they arrived at Point Comfort, they were sold to enslavers in the Virginia colony.
Watch: Fort Monroe’s role as 'Freedom’s Fortress' remembered ahead of Juneteenth
Glenn Oder, executive director of the Fort Monroe Authority, compared the monument to having the Statue of Liberty or the Grand Canyon locally.
“Despite all of the tragedy that they had in their lives, the idea that they’re holding a baby [signifies] hope,” Oder said in June. “What else signifies hope in the midst of tragedy than a new life?”
The monument will feature several sculptures from artist Brian Owens, including a depiction of Antony, Isabella, baby William. The project is expected to take five years to complete.
Events for African Landing Day Saturday include African drumming, music, vendors, and the commemorative ringing of the bell.
Watch: More than 300-year-old 'Emancipation Oak' at Hampton University serves as living witness to history
Hampton Mayor Donnie Tuck, Senator Mamie Locke and several dignitaries from Angola are expected to speak.
A news release from the City of Hampton said "the ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. at the future site of the African Landing Memorial near the Old Point Comfort Lighthouse and will end at Continental Park at about 1:30 p.m."
The news release further advised, "This event area is about 0.75 miles in length, and we will stop at 3 locations within this space. We suggest comfortable clothing and walking shoes. Following the ceremony, there will be exhibits, vendors, cultural performances. and food trucks in Continental Park until 4 p.m."
